Amazon has announced that it will be creating 100 UK operations apprenticeships and 44 will be located at the new Manchester fulfilment centre that will be launching in the city in the autumn.
The apprenticeships will focus on IT, facilities and engineering at Amazon. The successful applicants will get involved in a 24 month programme of on-the-job learning. They will gain experience of logistics, leadership, safety and quality assurance. Internal and external experts will guide and mentor the apprentices and work on real company projects with Amazon staff.
Ashley Cowen, general manager at Manchester Fulfilment centre, say: “Our fulfilment centres roles are at the heart of our business and so we’re really excited to announce our plans for an Operations Apprenticeship this autumn. At Amazon we strive to hire the best people from the communities in which we operate and to create opportunities for our employees to learn and to develop in their careers. A dedicated Operations Apprenticeship is another great way to support this and I look forward to meeting our new recruits and supporting them to fulfil their potential over the course of their programme.”
This is doubtless a good scheme. It’s good that a big, growing and modern firm is taking on apprentices. For the right young sparks, they will doubtless learn a lot if they grasp the opportunity and Amazon really invest in it and want genuine apprenticeships and not youthful pickers and packers. It would be interesting to know what the precise terms of the apprenticeships will be for the the hopefuls who are “hired”. There is an approved national apprentice wage that is pretty meagre.
It would be most laudable if Amazon made sure that the eager apprentices they take on are paid rather more than the basic minimum. Amazon isn’t short of a shilling after all. And it makes sense for them: doubtless the cream f the crop will stay on and become future Amazon leaders.
